REY.  DR.  NEALE’S 


ELECTION  SERMON, 


DELIVERED  JANUARY  8,  1852. 


RELIGIOUS 


E  R  T  Y. 


•  P 


A 

SERMON 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 

HIS  EXCELLENCY  GEORGE  S.  BOUTWELL, 

GOVERNOR, 

HIS  HONOR  HENRY  W.  CUSHMAN, 

LIEUTENANT  GOVERNOR, 

THE  HONORABLE  COUNCIL, 

AND 

THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 

AT  THE 

ANNUAL  ELECTION,  JANUARY  8,  1852. 


BY  REV.  ROLLIN  H.  NEALE,  D.  D. 

Pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Boston, 


BOSTON: 

DUTTON  &  WENTWORTH,  STATE  PRINTERS, 
No.  37,  Congress  Street. 

1852. 


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in  2017  with  funding  from 

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https://archive.org/details/religiouslibertyOOneal 


2.6  /•  ^ 

f\f  r 


€ammontoeaitl)  of  iHassacljttsetts. 


House  of  Representatives,  Jan.  9,  1852. 

Ordered,  That  Messrs.  Andrews  of  Montague,  Loring  of  Andover, 
and  Small  of  Truro,  be  a  Committee  to  present  the  thanks  of  this  House 
to  the  Rev.  Rollin  H.  Neale,  D.  D.,  for  the  Sermon  delivered  by  him 
on  Thursday  last,  before  the  Executive  and  the  two  branches  of  the 
Legislature  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  ask  a  copy  for  the  press. 


LEWIS  JOSSELYN,  Clerk 


SERMON. 


ROMANS  XIV:  4. 

Who  art  thou  that  judgest  another  man’s  servant?  To  his  own  Master 

HE  STANDETH  OR  FAELETH. 


It  was  said  of  our  Saviour  that  he  knew  what 
was  in  man ; — and  the  Scriptures,  in  their  perfect 
adaptedness  to  human  nature  in  all  the  varied  cir¬ 
cumstances  and  relations  of  life,  evince  a  similar 
proof  of  their  divine  origin.  The  legislator  and 
statesman  can  take  no  more  effectual  means  to 
qualify  themselves  for  their  important  duties,  their 
complex  and  vast  responsibilities,  than  by  consult¬ 
ing  the  Sacred  Oracles.  Those  governments  which 
are  formed  after  the  Scripture  model,  and  which 
bear  the  closest  conformity  to  the  principles  and 
spirit  of  revelation,  are  found  on  trial  best  adapted 
to  the  character  and  wants  of  mankind,  and  conse¬ 
quently  are  the  most  prosperous  and  enduring. 

Religious  Liberty,  the  principle  involved  in  the 
text,  is  a  prominent  doctrine  in  the  teachings  of 
Christ  and  his  Apostles.  It  is  adapted  to  the  well¬ 
being  of  man  in  any  circumstances ;  even  among 
the  rudest  nations,  and  in  the  darkest  periods  of 
human  history.  What  results,  therefore,  may  we 
not  anticipate  from  its  practical  operation  among  a 


6 


people,  where,  as  with  us,  Christianity  has  already 
obtained  a  footing ;  where  there  are  so  many  safe¬ 
guards  against  the  influence  of  error,  and  such 
numerous  and  ready  means  for  arriving  at  a  knowl¬ 
edge  of  the  true  God. 

The  Bearing  of  Religious  Liberty  on  our 
own  National  Prosperity,  is  the  topic,  which  may 
occupy,  not  unprofitably,  the  present  hour. 

By  religious  liberty  we  mean  the  privilege  of 
worshiping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  our 
own  conscience.  Its  principle  is,  that  while  we 
are  under  obligation  to  be  good  and  peaceable  citi¬ 
zens,  to  obey  magistrates,  and  submit  to  every  ordi¬ 
nance  of  man  for  the  Lord’s  sake,  no  human  au¬ 
thority  may  interfere  with  our  relations  to  the  Cre¬ 
ator  that  for  our  faith  and  practice,  so  long  as  we 
do  not  trench  upon  the  legitimate  sphere  of  civil 
government,  we  are  responsible  only  to  Him  who 
has  exclusive  dominion  of  the  soul ; — that  in  those 
thoughts  and  feelings  and  actions  which  we  re¬ 
gard  as  essential  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  divine 
favor  and  the  attainment  of  eternal  life,  no  human 
eye  may  watch  us,  no  human  arm  control  us,  no 
human  tribunal  summon  us  to  account. 

It  must  be  so  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case. 
Religion  is  strictly  an  individual  affair.  Every  man 
must  here  think  and  feel,  act  and  answer,  for  him¬ 
self.  Neither  guilt  nor  holiness  is  communicable  by 
bargain,  barter,  or  descent.  Neither  magistrate  nor 
priest,  minister  nor  layman,  can  stand  before  the 


7 


Creator  as  the  spiritual  representative  of  another. 
The  sphere  of  our  religious  emotions  is  a  sacred 
enclosure,  where  each  individual  is  to  be  left  alone 
with  God.  The  sanctuary  of  the  soul  is  a  hallowed 
retirement,  to  be  entered,  and  entered  only,  by  the 
High  Priest  of  our  profession.  This  principle  is 
a  conspicuous  and  distinguishing  feature  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Even  under  the  Jewish  economy, 
formidable  barriers  existed  in  the  path  of  the  wor¬ 
shiper.  Holy  vestments,  sacred  places,  and  priestly 
functions,  stood  up  with  frowning  and  chilling  as¬ 
pect  between  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  the  life- 
inspiring  influence  of  the  Divine  presence.  But  now 
a  new  and  a  living  way  has  been  consecrated  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus,  in  which  every  sincere  suppliant 
may  have  communion  with  Heaven.  Wherever  we 
are,  in  society  or  in  solitude,  on  the  ocean  or  on  the 
land ;  in  the  desert,  the  city  or  the  mountain  top, 
God  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us.  The  incense 
of  an  honest  heart  can  rise  to  the  Omniscient  One, 
in  the  humblest  circumstances  of  devotion,  as  ac¬ 
ceptably  as  beneath  the  lofty  cathedral  dome ;  and 
even  when  the  lips  move  not,  and  the  eyes,  weighed 
down  with  sickness  and  sorrow,  are  closed,  the  heart, 
gratefully  devout,  may  throb  its  silent  adoration 
to  the  Deity,  and  breathe  forth  as  true  a  spirit  of 
prayer  and  praise  as  if  it  mingled  its  tones  with  the 
melody  of  thousands,  and  bowed  ostentatiously  be¬ 
fore  an  imposing  altar  and  a  consecrated  priest. 
Such  is  the  doctrine  and  this  the  spirit  of  our  holy 
religion ;  and  yet  the  nations  of  the  earth  have  been 
strangely  slow  in  understanding  either  the  one  or 


8 


the  other.  Even  Christian  communities,  mistaking 
the  sphere  and  the  limits  of  their  responsibility, 
have  conscientiously  scourged  and  branded,  ban¬ 
ished  and  burned,  the  heretic.  Strange  as  it  now 
seems  to  us,  history  abounds  with  instances  where 
the  secular  power  has  thought  itself  fulfilling  a 
divinely  appointed  mission, — exercising  a  high  and 
holy  prerogative  in  putting  men  and  women  to 
death  for  the  good  of  souls  and  for  the  honor  of 
Christ.  These  views  are  not  now  carried  out  so 
rigorously  as  at  former  periods ;  still  their  withering 
and  deadly  influence  is  felt  in  almost  every  land. 
Ours  is  the  only  government  where  religion  is  en¬ 
tirely  dissevered  from  the  state ;  the  only  country 
in  which  the  civil  magistrate,  should  contending 
sects  come  to  him  with  their  feuds  and  difficulties, 
would  be  required  to  say  with  the  deputy  of  Achaia, 
not  scornfully  but  reverently,  “If  it  were  a  matter 
of  wrong  or  wicked  lewdness,  reason  would  that  I 
should  bear  with  you,  but  if  it  be  a  question  of 
words  and  names  and  of  your  law,  look  ye  to  it, 
for  I  will  be  no  judge  in  such  matters.” 

Such  is  the  religious  liberty  enjoyed  in  these 
United  States.  It  is  derived  directly  from  the  King 
in  Zion.  It  is  not  regarded  as  a  matter  of  tolera¬ 
tion,  but  a  heaven-descended  and  inalienable  right. 
Saul  is  an  Episcopalian,  and  Cephas  a  Presbyterian, 
and  Gains  a  Baptist,  and  Demas  a  Roman  Catholic, 
because,  in  the  exercise  of  their  own  judgment,  and 
under,  we  trust,  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  God, 
they  so  choose  to  be.  The  people  of  every  nation, 
Parthians,  Medes  and  Elamites,  and  the  dwellers  in 


9 


Mesopotamia ;  and  every  religious  sect,  whatever 
may  be  their  faith,  with  the  merest  shred  of  a  creed, 
or  with  the  most  motley  and  far-spread  patch- work 
of  a  superstitious  ritual ;  whether  Catholic  or  Pro¬ 
testant,  Jew  or  Turk ; — they  may  here  worship  God, 
each  in  his  own  way,  without  molestation  or  fear  from 
any  human  agency.  If  the  Chinese  choose  to  erect 
a  Buddhist  temple  in  California,  or  in  any  other 
part  of  the  Union,  they  will  meet  with  no  trouble  ; 
and  no  special  attention  will  be  given  to  their  work 
or  their  worship  farther  than  as  they  may  be,  for 
a  while,  matters  of  curiosity.  Every  man  may  sit 
under  his  vine  and  under  his  fig-tree  and  none  shall 
make  him  afraid. 

Persecution  may  indeed  exist  without  brandish¬ 
ing  deadly  weapons  over  the  head  of  the  supposed 
errorist.  It  may  follow  its  victim  with  suspicion 
and  scorn.  It  may  turn  upon  him  the  demoniac 
glare  of  anger,  and  breathe  venom  from  its  lips. 
But  this  spirit,  we  have  reason  to  hope,  is  fast  dis¬ 
appearing  from  among  us ;  or,  if  it  lingers  in  some 
quarters  and  occasionally  lifts  up  its  horrid  form,  it 
is  looked  upon  with  general  disgust  as  a  base  out¬ 
rage  upon  humanity,  and  the  grossest  violation  of 
the  laws  of  God.  Such  is  our  liberty.  It  is  worth 
treasures  and  blood,  and  there  are  those  in  other 
lands  who  would  gladly  pay  and  are  paying  this 
great  price  for  it.  But  we  were  free  born.  It  is  a 
heritage  which  has  descended  to  us  from  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  who,  in  the  language  of  the  gifted  poetess, 

“  Have  left  unstained,  what  here  they  found, 

Freedom  to  worship  God.” 

2 


10 


What  then  is  the  practical  bearing  of  religions 
liberty  upon  our  happiness  and  prosperity  as  a 
nation  1 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  the  parent  and  guardian 
of  mental  liberty.  Independence  of  thought  on  one 
subject  leads  to  independence  of  thought  on  others. 
Especially  is  this  true  in  reference  to  religion.  If 
there  are  restraints  here,  the  whole  soul  is  in  bond¬ 
age  ;  and  if  there  is  freedom  here,  then  are  we  free 
indeed.  One  may  be  in  poverty  or  in  prison  and 
suffer  a  thousand  disabilities,  and  be  “  a  man  for  a’ 
that but  if  he  allows  his  conscience  to  be  in  the 
keeping  of  another,  he  is  a  slave  of  the  most  menial 
kind.  There  is  nothing  left  in  him  that  can  give 
strength  or  dignity  to  a  human  being ;  no  indi¬ 
vidual  character  or  noble  endeavors,  or  lofty  aspira¬ 
tions.  The  glory  has  departed. 

There  have  been  times  in  the  history  of  nations, 
nor  have  those  times  entirely  passed  away,  when 
religious  restrictions  were  laid  upon  the  intellect  as 
well  as  upon  the  conscience.  Men  were  not  allowed 
to  think,  or  at  least  to  express  their  thoughts,  with¬ 
out  having  first  ascertained  whether  they  were  in 
harmony  with  the  popular  creed,  and  the  prescribed 
faith.  It  is  recorded  of  the  Alexandrian  fathers 
that  in  their  honest  intention  to  develop  the  true 
sense  of  Scripture,  they  inserted  a  punctuation  mark 
after  the  word  tv,  in  the  third  verse  of  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  John.  The  conscientious 
Chrysostom  was  greatly  alarmed  at  this  proceeding, 
and  denounced  it  as  rank  heresy.  Epiphanius,  still 


more  zealous,  declared  it  an  act  of  blasphemy,  and  a 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  Excitements  rose  high 
in  the  theological  world.  Wise  heads  combined  to 
stay  the  spreading  evil.  And  thus,  on  account  of  a 
single  dot,  the  perilous  work  of  punctuating  the 
inspired  volume  was  delayed  for  years.  A  similar 
spirit  of  hostility  to  free  thought  crippled  the  en¬ 
ergies  of  philosophers  and  scholars,  and  spread 
over  the  earth  the  darkness  of  a  thousand  years. 
Strong  and  active  minds  then  existed.  There  were 
giants  in  those  days.  But  they  were  doomed  to 
walk  only  in  the  go-carts  of  despotism.  They  were 
occupied  with  the  most  profitless  inquiries.  Not 
daring  to  rise  up  in  conscious  majesty  and  pursue 
their  work  in  the  open  face  of  day,  they  burrowed 
in  the  obscurity  of  convents  and  cloisters,  and  wast¬ 
ed  on  puerile  conceits  the  powers  that  were  designed 
for  discovery  and  progress.  Preachers  and  authors 
wrote  with  the  fear  of  the  censorship,  or  the  Index 
of  prohibited  books,  before  their  eyes.  The  shadow 
of  the  pillory  or  of  the  grim  inquisition  fell,  through 
their  study  windows,  sadly  and  ominously  upon  the 
page  that  should  have  been  dedicated  to  freedom,  to 
truth,  and  to  God.  But  no  such  bit  or  bridle  is  im¬ 
posed  on  us ;  and  never  can  be.  Our  philosophers 
and  learned  men  may  push  their  investigations  as 
far  as  they  please ;  no  prince  or  prelate  can  harm 
them.  They  may  make,  or  think  they  make,  dis¬ 
coveries  in  science  that  are  wonderful  and  startling; 
and  they  may  announce  thetn  to  the  world  and 
to  the  church  ever  so  boldly  ;  no  sun  or  successor 
of  St.  Dominic  will  raise  his  iron  hand,  nor  bend 


12 


upon  them  a  frowning  brow.  If  some  of  their  the¬ 
ories  seem  to  come  athwart  the  Bible,  be  it  so. 
The  fate  of  the  Tuscan  philosopher,  often  so  plain¬ 
tively  deprecated,  they  have  no  occasion  to  fear, — 
however  much  it  might  in  some  instances  be  de¬ 
served.  Our  men  of  genius  may  exert  themselves  to 
the  utmost,  may  range  the  wide  creation,  and  unlock, 
if  they  can,  the  mysteries  of  nature.  Their  acquisi¬ 
tions  may  equal  their  pretensions  even.  They  may 

“  Know  all  learning  and  all  science  know, 

And  all  the  subtle,  nice  affinities 
Of  matter  trace,  its  virtues,  motions,  laws, 

And  most  familiarly  and  deeply  talk 
Of  mental,  moral,  natural,  divine, 

Leaving  the  earth  at  will,  may  soar  to  heaven, 

And  read  the  glorious  visions  of  the  skies, 

And  gaze  far  back  into  the  awful  depths  of  Deity.” 


No  obstructions  will  be  thrown  in  their  lumi¬ 
nous  path.  Our  transcendentalists  may  indulge  in 
imaginative  theories  and  keen  speculations,  and  with 
looks  of  wondrous  wisdom,  speak  of  the  “  absolute,” 
and  the  “infinite,”  and  the  “innate,”  as  familiar 
things,  intelligible  and  palpable  to  their  every 
sense.  They  may  put  forth  those  long  reaches  of 
thought  which  pluck  bright  honor  from  the  pale- 
faced  moon,  or  dive  into  the  bottom  of  the  deep, 
where  fathom-line  can  never  touch  the  ground,  and 
drag  up  drowned  honor  by  the  locks  !  Our  policy 
and  our  safety  consist  in  simply  standing  out  of 
their  adventurous  way,  and  giving  them  as  wide  a 
range  as  possible.  The  astronomer  may  scan  the 
heavens  to  the  utmost  sweep  of  his  telescope ;  the 


13 


geologist  may  grope  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
and  talk  freely  and  learnedly  of  the  countless  ages 
through  which  its  strata  have  been  slowly  churned 
and  curdled ;  the  mathematician  may  bend  over 
problems  reaching  back  to  periods  equally  remote, 
and  in  the  fervor  of  scientific  enthusiasm  seem  to 
forget  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation.  What  then  ? 
We  shall  neither  send  them  to  the  stake  from  an 
insane  fear ;  nor  throw  away  our  bibles  in  as  insane 
a  credulity.  We  have  no  apprehension  that  there 
will  ever  be  discovered  a  want  of  harmony  between 
the  true  out-speaking  of  nature,  and  the  clear,  un¬ 
erring  and  rightly-understood  voice  of  inspiration. 
An  intelligent  faith  in  the  word  of  God  is  too 
strong,  too  deeply  rooted  and  grounded  in  everlast¬ 
ing  truth,  to  be  timorous  of  man  or  of  human  sci¬ 
ence.  Religion  rejoices  in  the  mental  freedom  she 
inspires,  and  of  whose  blessings  she  herself  is  no 
stinted  recipient. 

The  influence  of  this  freedom  is  not  confined  to 
the  study  of  the  scholar.  It  does  not  expend  itself 
in  mere  theory.  It  is  something  practical.  We  all 
share  of  its  blessings.  It  is  felt  in  every  department 
of  society,  and  changes  the  entire  character  and  des¬ 
tiny  of  nations.  Those  Europeans  who  first  settled 
on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  were  the  legitimate 
offspring  of  church  and  state.  Nursed  from  infancy 
in  the  lap  of  power,  fed  with  artificial  stimulants, 
and  trained  to  martial  rule  and  discipline,  they  lan¬ 
guished  for  want  of  vital  sap  and  energy :  whereas 
the  colonies  from  England,  our  Puritan  forefathers, 
seeking  refuge  from  oppression,  driven  from  their 


14 


firesides  and  their  homes,  tossed  on  the  billows  of 
the  ocean,  and  left  at  length,  outcast  and  neglect¬ 
ed,  amid  the  storms  of  winter  and  the  yell  of  sav¬ 
ages,  beset  with  difficulties  on  every  side,  but  still 
strong  in  native  vigor  and  self-confiding  courage, 
grew  yet  more  strong  with  the  conflicts  and  the 
buffetings  of  life,  and  exhibited  in  their  charac¬ 
ter  all  the  native  might,  the  stern  endurance  and 
hardihood,  of  their  own  coast  and  clime.  They  had 
thrown  off  their  shackles  and  come  out  of  prison. 
Hatred  of  all  civil  and  spiritual  domineering  had 
become  with  them  a  ruling  passion.  The  spirit  of 
nonconformity  had  taken  possession  of  their  souls, 
and  the  love  of  liberty  was  sublimed  in  them  to  a 
fiery  essence.  They  were  resolved  to  be  free.  Hence 
their  sinewy  limbs,  and  thoughtful  brows,  and  ener¬ 
getic  purposes.  And  what  but  the  same  spirit  has 
poured  around  the  abodes  of  their  descendants  the 
multiplied  comforts  of  social  and  domestic  life,  and 
stirred  up  to  unwonted  activity  and  enterprise  the 
teeming  millions  of  our  population,  and  awakened 
an  inventive  power  among  our  artisans,  our  manu¬ 
facturers,  and  agriculturists,  that  is  daily  giving  a 
new  impulse  to  the  various  branches  of  industry,  so 
that,  as  recorded  by  the  ablest,  the  bitterest  and  the 
most  anti-American  press  in  all  Europe,  the  United 
States,  at  the  World’s  Fair,  in  every  valuable  art,  in 
everything  for  human  improvement,  so  far  distanced 
every  competitor,  as  to  leave  none  else  in  sight. 
To  what,  I  ask,  is  this  attributable  but  to  that  soul- 
liberty,  in  which  they  occupy  an  enviable  and  soli¬ 
tary  preeminence  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  1 


15 


It  is  not  thus  with  the  South  American  States.  Re¬ 
publics  though  they  are,  with  a  salubrious  clime,  a 
fertile  soil,  and  exhaustless  mines  of  gold  and  silver, 
they  are  yet,  in  all  the  elements  of  human  power, 
whether  of  head  or  heart,  in  the  quiet  pursuits  of 
peace,  or  the  fiercer  conflicts  of  war,  as  dwarfed  and 
inert  as  Pharaoh’s  lean  kine,  and  like  them,  through 
years  of  famine  or  years  of  plenty,  remain  gaunt  and 
meagre  still.  What  is  wanted  is  religious  freedom. 
This  has  a  vitalizing  power.  It  arouses  men  to  action, 
and  sets  them  forward  in  a  career  of  improvement. 

Dangers  indeed  are  to  be  apprehended  from  these 
awakened  energies.  The  practical  effect  of  liberty, 
depending  as  it  does  upon  the  manner  in  which  it 
is  employed,  is  diversified  in  its  character,  like  the 
vegetation  of  the  earth.  Rightly  used  and  trained, 
it  becomes  the  waving  harvest,  the  rich  and  abun¬ 
dant  fruits  of  cultivated  fields,  which  fill  our  garners 
and  pile  our  boards  with  plenty.  Perverted  or  suf¬ 
fered  to  run  wild,  it  presents  only  thorns  and  briers  ; 
or,  at  best,  is  like  the  green,  yet  deceptive  ivy,  which 
“  hastens  the  decay  it  serves  to  hide,  and  crumbles 
into  speedier  ruin  the  edifice  it  was  designed  to  adorn 
and  beautify.”  A  strange  progeny  is  sometimes 
born  even  of  American  freedom.  Our  genius,  like  a 
minister  at  large,  is  fruitful  of  suggestions,  and  con¬ 
stantly  devising  new  modes  of  operation.  Under  its 
excited  influence  a  thousand  uncouth  notions  and  in¬ 
ventions  are  obtruded  upon  the  public  eye.  Strange 
and  suspicious  theories  in  science,  government,  and 
religion,  are  broached  and  propagated  through  the 
community.  Stars  are  frequently  appearing  above 


16 


the  horizon,  promising  to  guide  their  followers  to  a 
new  Bethlehem  ;  but  prove,  in  the  sequel,  like  the 
corpse  lights  of  English  fable,  which  pointed  only  to 
the  graves  their  discoverers  and  admirers  were  soon 
to  occupy.  Though  Fourier  has  gone  to  his  Judge, 
his  system  lives  and  has  here  its  list  of  votaries. 
The  radical  and  the  comeouter  are  abroad  ;  the  lat¬ 
ter  has  not  only  come  out  himself,  but  is  anxious  to 
thrust  out  Christ  and  his  creed  from  his  neighbor’s 
heart  and  house.  Views  adverse  to  the  church  and 
the  ministry,  and  to  all  organized  governments,  are 
freely  expressed  ;  yea,  attacks  are  made  on  the  Bible 
and  Christianity  itself.  But  do  we,  on  this  account, 
wish  any  other  restraints  upon  the  soul  than  those 
which  Heaven  imposes!  Would  we,  from  fear  of 
the  tornado,  have  the  winds  imprisoned  !  Or,  to 
save  a  toppling  edifice  or  a  branching  tree  here  and 
there,  which  may  be  uprooted  or  overturned  by  the 
maddened  tempest,  would  we  forego  the  genial  in¬ 
fluence  which  springs  from  the  pulses  or  even  the 
billows  of  the  atmosphere !  No:  We  would  have 
the  soul  free  as  the  elements  of  nature.  Let  thought 
be  as  unrestrained  as  the  lightning,  and  come  forth 
in  bold  thunder-tones — who  is  afraid  ?  If  it  be  of 
men,  it  will  come  to  naught ;  if  of  God,  ye  cannot 
overthrow  it.  The  wildest  fanaticism  will  often  die 
of  itself  if  you  but  let  it  alone  ;  it  becomes  a  raging 
flame  only  by  ill-judged  endeavors  to  smother  the 
fire.  The  true  and  successsful  way  of  curing  mental 
as  well  as  bodily  diseases  is  by  bringing  them  to  the 
light  and  air.  Nature  is  her  own  physician.  Let 
her  roam  at  pleasure  under  bright  skies  and  over 


17 


green  fields,  and  she  will  throw  off  many  maladies, 
which,  were  she  confined  to  the  stifled  atmosphere  of 
a  sick-room,  and  doomed  to  the  apothecary’s  drugs 
and  doses,  would  prove  her  death.  Thus  it  is  with 
the  soul.  It  finds  health  and  life  by  its  own  free¬ 
dom.  Let  argument  meet  argument,  opinion  come 
in  conflict  with  opinion,  different  systems  and  theo¬ 
ries  grapple  with  each  other  upon  a  fair  and  open 
field,  and  the  result  will  be  the  correction  of  error, 
the  exposure  of  folly,  and  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
truth  and  righteousness.* 

Religious  liberty  has  a  direct  and  strong  bearing 
upon  our  national  stability.  Prophecies  of  failure 
respecting  the  republic  have  been  uttered  from  its 
origin.  The  cry  of  disunion  is  nothing  new  nor 
strange.  There  are  doubtless  some  circumstances 
which  may  justly  occasion  alarm.  It  was  an  in¬ 
telligent  and  deep  conviction  of  real  danger,  that 
prompted  the  remark  from  the  patriot  of  Monticello, 
46 1  tremble  for  my  country,  when  I  remember  that 

*  Error  and  falsehood  can  thrive  only  in  darkness,  whereas  truth 
courts  the  light.  Christianity  shrinks  from  no  investigation.  She  loses 
nothing  by  the  strictest  scrutiny.  She  never  stood  on  a  loftier  emi¬ 
nence  or  more  immovable  foundations,  than  at  this  moment.  Men  at 
other  times  and  in  other  lands  have  endeavored  to  blot  the  Sabbath 
from  existence,  and  enact  a  decade  to  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  ;  but  the 
memorial  day  of  the  creation,  the  resurrection  and  the  redemption,  has 
returned  to  the  calendar  in  spite  of  its  foes,  and  there  it  will  stand  for¬ 
ever,  encircling  and  gladdening  the  nations  with  its  hallowed  light. 
The  Bible,  too,  in  other  times  has  encountered  enemies,  as  numerous 
and  bitter,  and  as  strangely  conscientious ;  but  it  has  survived  every 
attack,  and  the  assaults  of  its  old  and  foiled  opponents  have  become 
its  enhanced  defence,  the  thicker  and  the  more  prominent  bosses  on  the 
3 


18 


God  is  just.”  A  nation  that  sets  itself  against  the 
Lord,  that  is  recreant  to  its  moral  obligations,  that 
tramples  upon  the  interests  of  humanity  and  the 
laws  of  righteousness,  cannot  long  survive.  No 
invading  army  may  burn  its  cities,  or  lay  waste  its 
fields ;  no  crushing  power  from  without  may  blot  it 
from  existence ;  it  carries  within  itself  the  seeds  of 
decay  and  ruin.  Many  a  strong  government  has 
thus  been  broken  into  fragments.  Many  a  mon¬ 
archy,  as  well  as  republic,  from  the  midst  of  out¬ 
ward  prosperity  and  apparent  strength,  has  thus, 
from  its  towering  height,  descended  suddenly  to 
the  grave,  as  if  smitten  by  an  invisible  hand.  That 
this  nation,  in  its  prosperity  and  pride,  is  exposed 
to  danger,  it  were  hypocrisy  and  falsehood  to  deny. 
The  soul,  here  freed  from  the  restraints  of  man,  is 
in  danger  of  breaking  away  from  the  laws  of  God. 
The  young  men  of  America,  now  entering  upon  the 
stage  of  life,  and  they  who  are  to  take  part  in  its 
checkered  drama  for  the  next  thirty  years,  will  de¬ 
velop  their  character,  and  put  forth  the  energies  of 

buckler  of  Jehovah.  “  The  word  of  God  is  tried.”  It  has  passed 
through  many  a  fiery  ordeal.  Science  and  philosophy,  as  well  as 
malice  and  power,  have  seemed  for  the  moment  to  threaten  its  over¬ 
throw  ;  but  it  has  come  forth  divinely  protected  from  every  furnace  of 
the  destroyer,  its  truths  beaming  with  the  brighter  effulgence,  and  freed 
only  from  the  fog  and  fiction  and  error  with  which  they  are  liable  to  be 
intermingled  and  shrouded  by  human  imperfection  and  guilt.  The 
rough  scaffolding,  indeed,  put  up  by  human  hands,  and  which  has 
come  to  be  regarded  with  superstitious  reverence  as  part  of  the  build¬ 
ing,  may  be  torn  away  ;  but  only  to  leave  the  temple  of  Christian  truth, 
as  established  by  the  Lord  himself,  in  more  grand  and  beautiful  pro¬ 
portions,  with  a  superstructure  standing  upon  the  Rock  of  ages,  and 
rising  in  strength  and  majesty,  and  attractive  splendor,  before  the  eyes 
of  all  nations. 


19 


the  human  mind  and  heart,  whether  for  good  or 
for  evil,  more  fully  and  more  effectively  than  any 
generation  of  men  that  has  ever  existed.  This 
innumerable  multitude  are  now  on  their  march. 
Already  the  tramp  of  their  footsteps  is  sounding  in 
our  ears.  They  are  the  men  who  will  determine 
the  character  and  complexion  of  our  future  history. 
And  if  greater  care  be  not  taken  for  their  education 
and  moral  improvement  than  has  ever  heretofore 
been  taken,  their  purposes  and  passions  will  be  em¬ 
bodied  in  the  laws  and  institutions  of  society,  and 
flame  out  from  all  the  places  of  power  and  influ¬ 
ence,  in  such  broad  and  terrific  characters,  that  not 
only  “  whoever  runs  may  read ;  but  whoever  reads 
will  run.” 

What,  then,  in  these  circumstances,  are  our  means 
of  safety  1  Shall  we  rely  solely  on  government  % 
Will  you  put  this  population,  fired  with  the  spirit 
of  freedom,  into  a  straight  jacket  of  civil  statutes, 
and  compass  them  about  with  a  constabulary  force  % 
It  is,  I  am  aware,  a  favorite  maxim  in  some  quar¬ 
ters,  that  government  is  the  all-in-all  to  a  people ; 
that  wisdom  and  goodness  can  proceed  only  from 
organized  authority;  that  there  can  be  but  little 
intelligence,  or  morality,  or  religion  even,  unless 
sanctioned  by  power,  and  enforced  by  legal  enact¬ 
ments.  I  believe  in  no  such  doctrine.  There  is  a 
spirit  in  man,  a  heart  and  a  conscience,  and  the 
inspiration  of  the  Almighty  hath  given  him  under¬ 
standing  ;  and  if  allowed  the  free  exercise  of  these 
high  powers  with  which  he  is  endowed  by  the 
Creator,  he  will  be  a  better  and  a  safer  citizen  than 


20 


if  his  soul  were  cowed  down  by  an  Argus-eyed 
police,  and  he  met  at  every  turn  by  some  prohibi¬ 
tory  law.  I  remember,  when  a  youth,  listening  to 
the  eccentric  Randolph,  from  the  lobby  of  the  senate 
chamber,  in  Washington.  He  frequently  boasted 
that  he  was  the  most  useful  man  in  Congress,  for 
the  reason  that  he  always  gave  negative  votes.  He 
thought  there  was  danger  of  too  much  legislation. 
He  believed  that  liberty  was  itself  a  conservative 
principle ;  and  that  a  free  people  might  safely  be 
entrusted  with  a  large  amount  of  discretionary  pow¬ 
er.  And  is  not  this  a  true  sentiment  1  Certainly. 
It  is  illustrated  and  confirmed  by  our  own  history 
and  present  condition.  We  have  less  of  the  ma¬ 
chinery  of  government  than  any  other  nation,  and 
less  need  of  it  than  any  other ;  and  one  reason  is, 
that,  where  man  is  free,  where  he  is  left  to  think  and 
act  for  himself,  where  he  has  an  individual  character 
to  sustain,  and  individual  responsibilities  to  meet,  a 
feeling  of  self-respect,  an  ambition  to  deserve  the 
confidence  reposed  in  him,  and  an  intelligent  per¬ 
ception  of  his  own  interests,  will  keep  him  from 
making  war  upon  society.  The  spirit  of  true  free¬ 
dom  is  ever  associated  with  a  regard  for  public 
order,  and  with  a  respectful  and  even  reverential 
deference  to  law.  It  binds  together  harmoniously 
a  community  of  free  and  independent  men.  It 
is  like  the  union  of  the  centripetal  with  the  cen¬ 
trifugal  power  in  nature,  which  keeps  the  planets  in 
their  steady  pathway  round  the  sun :  While  throw¬ 
ing  out  a  mighty  force,  it  is  equally  attractive,  direct¬ 
ing  and  impelling  innumerable  and  separate  bodies 


21 


in  their  onward  course,  without  jar  or  collision ;  or, 
if  notes  of  discord  are  occasionally  heard,  they  soon 
die  away  amid  the  sweeter  music  of  the  spheres. 

Keligious  liberty  tends  to  a  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  so  essential  to  the  stability  and  pros¬ 
perity  of  a  nation.  If  learning  does  not  with  us 
rise  so  high  as  in  some  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  yet 
what  is  lost  in  height  is  made  up  in  length  and 
breadth.  And  this  is  far  better,  so  far  as  real  util¬ 
ity  is  concerned,  than  a  few  brilliant  lights  in  the 
midst  of  surrounding  darkness,  just  as  our  extensive 
prairies  are  more  valuable  for  all  the  purposes  of 
tillage  than  some  Alpine  mountain,  whose  top  is 
lost  in  the  clouds,  or  dazzling  in  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
but  whose  sides  are  barren  and  unproductive.  Italy 
may  have  her  distinguished  scholars,  a  few  individ¬ 
uals,  preeminent  in  taste  and  refinement.  But  how 
many  of  her  population  know  not  their  right  hand 
from  their  left !  Scarcely  a  dozen  papers  are  pub¬ 
lished  in  all  that  classic  land,  and  not  half  the  peo¬ 
ple,  I  suppose,  are  capable  of  reading  even  them: 
Whereas,  in  the  United  States,  the  various  avenues 
of  light  to  the  public  mind  are  open.  The  press  is 
free  from  unnatural  surveillance  and  restraint,  and 
is  sending  out  its  periodicals,  and  spreading  its  sheets 
all  over  the  land.  Above  four  hundred  millions  of 
copies  are  annually  distributed;  and,  how  seldom 
do  you  find  a  bom  and  bred  American,  whether 
riding  in  his  coach,  or  drawing  a  hand-cart,  who 
does  not  read  the  “  papers.”  Many,  it  is  true,  are 
scarcely  worth  reading,  and  the  character  and  spirit 


22 


of  some  of  them  are  more  suited  to  the  cities  of  the 
plain,  and  the  day  when  Lot  fled  out  of  Sodom,  amid 
the  avenging  fires  of  Heaven,  than  to  this  free  repub¬ 
lic,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  But 
the  greater  portion  are  adapted  to  instruct  the  pub¬ 
lic  mind.  They  constitute  a  kind  of  national  libra¬ 
ry,  a  universal  athenseum,  from  which,  if  there  issue 
no  very  deep  streams  of  thought,  there  is  constantly 
going  forth  a  broad  and  refreshing  current  of  general 
intelligence. 

Our  Free-School  System,  also,  owes  its  prosperity, 
and  indeed  its  existence,  to  the  spirit  of  religious 
liberty.  Repeated  efforts  have  been  made  to  intro¬ 
duce  it  into  Great  Britain,  but  hitherto  without 
success.  The  whole  body  of  nonconformists  are 
opposed  to  it.  In  the  exercise  of  what  they  deem  a 
godly  jealousy  of  the  established  church,  they  set 
themselves  strenuously  against  whatever  may  tend, 
in  their  estimation,  to  enlarge  its  power.  They 
suspect  danger  in  the  “  School  Bill,”  and  ply  the 
parliament  and  her  majesty  with  petitions  for  its 
defeat.  Much  as  we  may  sympathize  with  their 
motives,  we  cannot  commend  their  wisdom.  We 
bless  God  that  here  the  different  denominations  of 
Christians  have  no  such  fears  and  jealousies  of  one 
another.  Sectarianism  is,  as  it  ought  to  be,  excluded 
from  our  schools.  Teachers  are  selected  indiscrim¬ 
inately  from  the  whole  community,  and  the  question 
asked,  is,  whether  they  are  qualified  to  instruct  our 
children  in  the  usual  branches  of  a  popular  educa¬ 
tion  1  and  not  to  what  church  they  belong,  nor 


23 


what  are  the  peculiarities  of  their  religious  creed. 
And  it  is  delightful  to  see  in  these  schools  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  the  rich  and  the  poor, — children  whose 
parents  are  from  every  nation,  and  entertaining, 
probably,  every  variety  of  religious  sentiment, — 
here  sitting  side  by  side,  knowing  no  distinctions, 
and  having  no  rivalry  or  strife  with  one  another, 
except  for  the  merit  and  the  rewards  of  scholarship. 
Such  is  the  system  which,  commenced  by  our  fathers 
in  the  Mayflower,  has  been  diligently  followed  up 
by  their  children,  from  generation  to  generation. 
By  all  classes  of  citizens  it  is  looked  upon  with  sat¬ 
isfaction  and  pride,  as  the  glory  of  our  Common¬ 
wealth.  In  the  immense  strides  taken  by  the  coun¬ 
try  in  all  the  paths  of  progress,  since  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  there  is  no  department  of 
life  in  which  the  people  have  manifested  a  greater 
interest,  and  where  the  signs  of  improvement  are 
more  visible,  than  in  our  public  schools.  It  cannot 
be  otherwise,  in  a  healthful  state  of  society.  The 
education  of  youth  has  been  happily  compared  to 
the  flowering  out  of  the  community.  It  is  to  the 
moral  and  intellectual  world  what  the  outburst  of 
spring  is  to  the  natural;  with  this  marked  ex¬ 
ception  :  The  material  creation  makes  no  advance ; 
but  only  repeats  itself,  with  an  exquisite  and  beau¬ 
tiful  uniformity,  from  year  to  year ;  while  the  pow¬ 
ers  of  the  soul  are  immortal,  and  susceptible  of 
indefinite  improvement. 

Religious  liberty,  also,  secures  most  fully  and 
most  effectively  to  our  nation,  the  influence  of  the 


24 


pulpit.  The  “  Indebtedness  of  the  State  to  the  Cler¬ 
gy,”  was  ably  shown  by  the  gentleman  who  preceded 
me  in  this  public  service.  But  it  is  to  the  entire 
separation  of  the  church  from  the  state,  and  the 
perfect  freedom  we  enjoy  in  our  religion,  that  the 
pulpit  is  indebted  for  much  of  the  power  for  good 
with  which  it  is  here  invested.  The  ministry  is  not 
a  profession  favorable  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth, 
nor  is  it  the  usual  path  to  political  preferment ;  and 
it  is  sometimes  said  that  our  general  influence  in 
society  is  less  imposing  than  that  of  the  clergy  in 
the  days  of  our  fathers.  This  may  be  so ;  and  yet 
be  no  disparagement  to  the  ministerial  office  or 
character.  The  truth  is,  that  free,  republican  insti¬ 
tutions  tend  to  strip  off  the  pomp  and  glare  of  offi¬ 
cial  dignity,  and  accord  respect  and  honor  to  men 
for  what  they  are  in  themselves.  Whatever  station 
an  individual  may  occupy,  his  influence  in  society 
depends  essentially  on  his  own  personal  character. 
This  is  specially  true  of  the  Christian  minister. 
He  may  be  called  “  Bishop,”  “  Archbishop,”  or 
“  Cardinal ;”  the  title  will  avail  but  little  with 
intelligent  people.  The  more  important  inquiry 
will  be,  Is  he  an  honest  manl  Is  he  a  faithful 
shepherd  and  bishop  of  souls  \  Is  he  like  Cowper’s 
pastor, 

“  Much  impressed  himself, 

As  conscious  of  his  awful  charge, 

And  anxious  mainly  that  the  flock 
He  feeds,  may  feel  it  too  ?” 

The  potent  charm  which  formerly  attached  to  the 
clerical  name  and  garb,  it  must  be  allowed,  does  not 


25 


now  exist.  Nor  is  this  a  matter  of  regret.  It  only 
tends  to  separate  and  preserve  Christianity  from  the 
corrupt  and  corrupting  influence  of  the  world,  and 
to  keep  unsoiled  those  pure  and  heavenly  robes  in 
which  she  shall  ultimately  be  presented  to  the  bride¬ 
groom.  And  besides,  who  does  not  know  that  a 
minister,  embosomed  in  the  affections  and  confi¬ 
dence  of  his  people,  is  far  more  efficient  for  good, 
than  if  girt  about  with  the  insignia  of  office  and 
power,  with  a  glittering  tiara  upon  his  head,  and 
keys  of  awful  mystery  in  his  hand  1  The  truths  of 
the  everlasting  gospel,  proclaimed  as  they  are  with 
us  from  a  thousand  pulpits  in  every  part  of  the 
land,  and  to  tens  of  thousands  of  hearers,  from  the 
lips  of  their  own  chosen  teachers,  are  instilling  into 
the  public  conscience  and  the  public  heart  an  in¬ 
fluence,  which,  for  the  preservation  of  whatever  is 
good  and  valuable  in  our  country,  is  infinitely  more 
effective  than  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a  standing 
army.  This  unpretending  yet  continuous  infiltra¬ 
tion  of  moral  and  religious  truth  into  the  commu¬ 
nity,  through  so  many  and  various  channels ;  this 
nourishment  of  the  tree  by  means  of  its  branches 
spreading  themselves  afar  and  freely  in  the  air  of 
heaven,  is  an  inestimable  source  of  national  vitality 
and  strength. 

More  than  all ;  the  Paraclete  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  the  Divine  Comforter,  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom 
the  Father  sends  to  the  devout  suppliant  in  the 
name  of  Jesus,  is  the  mysterious  and  glorious  me¬ 
dium  through  which  the  favor  of  God  is  realized 
4 


26 


among  men,  and  which  is  as  essential  to  the  perma¬ 
nent  prosperity  of  a  nation,  as  it  is  to  the  life  and 
salvation  of  an  individual.  But  this  Spirit  is  pre¬ 
eminently  the  spirit  of  freedom.  It  cannot  be  em¬ 
bodied  in  state  enactments,  nor  confined  to  creeds 
and  forms,  nor  infused  into  the  soul  by  any  human 
authority  whatsoever.  Its  sphere  of  operation  is  in 
connexion  with  spontaneous  emotions,  personal 
responsibilities,  and  individual  thought.  In  reim¬ 
pressing  upon  man  the  image  of  his  Maker,  and 
bringing  his  thoughts  into  subjection  to  the  obe¬ 
dience  of  Christ,  it  creates  within  him  the  greater 
individuality  of  character ;  it  brings  him  to  himself. 
He  is  under  law,  but  it  is  a  perfect  law  of  liberty ; 
liberty  of  the  highest  and  the  purest  kind  ; 

“  ’Tis  liberty  of  heart, — such  as 
Monarchs  cannot  give,  nor  all  the 
Powers  of  earth  and  hell  confederate, 

Take  away.” 

“  It  is  held  by  charter, 

And  that  charter  sanctioned  sure 
By  the  unimpeachable  and  awful  oath 
And  promise  of  a  God.” 


Here,  then,  is  our  strength  as  a  nation ;  here  our 
defence  and  safety  as  individuals.  With  a  free 
press,  and  a  free  school,  and  a  free  pulpit,  and  the 
unrestrained  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the 
free  soul,  we  shall  stand  forever,  firm  as  the  ocean 
rock,  around  whose  base  the  waters  harmlessly  rage, 
and  around  whose  summit  the  winds  of  heaven  as 
harmlessly  play. 


27 


Government,  sustaining  no  official  relation  to  re¬ 
ligion,  is,  on  this  account,  in  a  position  to  be  more 
efficiently  aided  and  strengthened  by  her  power.* 
Christianity,  moving  in  her  separate  and  appro¬ 
priate  sphere,  entering,  as  she  alone  can,  into  the 
sanctuary  of  the  soul,  and  sweetly  enforcing  the 


*  Much  is  said  at  the  present  time,  about  the  “  higher  law,”  by  one 
party,  as  if  men  were  to  follow  their  individual  convictions,  regardless 
of  civil  government ;  and  by  another,  as  if  they  were  to  follow  the  laws 
of  man,  regardless  of  God.  The  true  philosophy  on  this  subject,  it 
seems  to  me,  may  be  stated  in  few  words.  Government,  with  us,  exists 
for  certain  specified  purposes ;  purposes  which  are  clearly  defined  in 
the  constitutions  of  the  several  states,  and  in  that  of  the  Union:  and 
as  religion  is  not  one  of  them,  it  cannot  interfere  in  spiritual  matters, 
without  transcending  the  limits  of  its  responsibility.  In  its  corporate 
capacity  it  has  no  more  to  do  with  religion,  than  the  directors  of  a  bank, 
or  the  superintendents  of  a  railway.  The  legislator  and  magistrate,  in 
the  discharge  of  their  official  duties,  can  consult  only  the  constitution 
as  it  is.  Fidelity  to  their  specified  trust  is  the  law  that  binds  them,  and 
for  which  they  are  responsible  to  an  earthly  constituency.  At  the 
same  time,  they  are  men,  subjects  of  the  government  of  God,  and 
amenable  at  his  tribunal.  The  responsibility  of  the  individual  to  his 
Maker,  cannot  be  set  aside  by  any  inferior  accountability  which  he 
may  have  assumed  as  an  officer.  The  true  statesman  will  be  religiously 
faithful  to  his  appointed  work,  and,  like  Daniel  the  prophet,  so  manage 
the  affairs  of  government,  that  not  the  wiliest  politician  shall  be  able 
to  find  any  just  occasion  against  him,  in  things  pertaining  to  the  king¬ 
dom  ;  and  yet,  as  by  his  oath  of  office  he  recognizes  a  higher  tribunal 
and  a  higher  law  than  man’s,  he  will  not  perjure  himself  by  disregard¬ 
ing  that  higher  law ;  but  will  follow  the  revealed  will  of  Heaven,  though 
it  should  lead  him,  as  it  did  the  noble  Hebrew  at  the  head  of  the  Chal¬ 
dean  cabinet,  into  the  very  den  of  lions.  While  he  has  no  right  to  use 
his  official  power  to  enforce  religion,  or  to  accomplish  any  other  pur¬ 
poses  aside  from  those  for  which  he  was  specially  intrusted  with  au¬ 
thority,  he  cannot,  nevertheless,  forget  the  paramount  authority  of  God 
over  himself,  as  an  individual,  without  a  recklessness  of  moral  charac¬ 
ter  which  would  disqualify  him  for  any  station  of  influence  or  honor, 
either  in  Heaven  or  earth.  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom,  and  one  of  the  most  essential  elements  of  true  patriotism. 


28 


counsels  of  Heaven  upon  the  inner  man,  is  a  might¬ 
ier  element  of  strength  to  our  national  institutions 
than  if  she  were  herself  legally  allied  with  the  sec¬ 
ular  power.  It  is  not  the  religion  of  the  statute 
book,  but  that  which  lives,  and  moves,  and  has  its 
being  in  the  renewed  heart,  that  furnishes  to  society 
and  to  government  that  which  they  most  need — a 
man,  perfect  and  complete;  with  an  enlightened 
conscience  and  a  soul  of  his  own :  not  held  under 
mortgage  and  rack-rent  to  corporate  authorities, 
nor  left  in  pawn  with  ecclesiastical  usurpers. 

Our  government,  thus  separate  from  religion,  pat¬ 
ronizing  no  sect  and  proscribing  none,  has  taken 
the  most  effectual  method  of  attaching  to  itself  the 
whole  body  of  the  people.  However  diversified 
may  be  our  religious  views,  we  all  stand  on  an  equal 
footing  in  regard  to  the  state.  Our  country  is  the 
common  mother  of  all  who  live  under  her  laws. 
None  are  disowned; — none  are  thrown  from  her 
maternal  embrace,  because  of  their  religious  convic¬ 
tions.  We  are  all  her  legitimate  children : — all 
equal  and  acknowledged  heirs  of  the  inheritance. 
It  is  this  family  relationship  in  civil  affairs,  with 
our  individual  freedom  in  regard  to  religion,  and 
the  satisfaction  which  thence  ensues,  which  is  pre¬ 
serving  the  nation  from  those  outbreaks  and  revolu¬ 
tions,  so  common  and  so  terrific  on  the  eastern  con¬ 
tinent.  The  strife  of  political  parties  is  sufficiently 
bitter,  but  there  is  generally  no  religious  principle 
or  point  of  conscience  involved  in  their  controver¬ 
sies.  Hence,  however  high  and  menacing  party  ex¬ 
citement  may  occasionally  rise,  it  soon  subsides ; 


29 


the  thunders  sleep  and  the  winds  retire.  Happily, 
in  the  political  world  as  in  the  natural,  the  storm  is 
succeeded  by  a  calm,  and  there  comes  the  clear  sun¬ 
shine  after  rain.  But  if  religious  interests  are  inter¬ 
mingled  with  the  secular,  and  the  strong  arm  of 
civil  authority  is  laid  upon  the  still  stronger  convic¬ 
tions  of  the  soul,  the  conflict  is  deadly.  The  tem¬ 
pest  is  continuous  and  horrible,  raining  down  hail¬ 
stones  and  coals  of  fire.  It  is  like  the  pouring  out 
of  the  apocalyptic  vial  upon  the  rivers  and  fountains 
of  waters,  until  they  •  become  blood.  All  parties 
suffer  in  the  struggle.  The  oppressor  is  doomed, 
sooner  or  later,  to  share  the  fate  of  his  victim.  Thus 
within  a  few  years,  we  have  seen  mighty  kings 
hurled  from  their  thrones,  long-standing  and  power¬ 
ful  dynasties  scattered  in  an  hour,  and  the  fairest 
fields  of  Europe  saturated  with  human  gore. 
Heaven  has  so  ordained  it  as  an  act  of  retributive 
justice  to  the  persecutor.  Thou  art  righteous,  O 
Lord !  which  art,  and  wast,  and  shalt  be,  because 
thou  hast  judged  thus ;  for  they  have  shed  the 
blood  of  saints  and  of  martyrs,  and  thou  hast  given 
them  blood  to  drink,  for  they  are  worthy. 

There  is  nothing  so  difficult  to  repress,  as  the 
religious  sentiment.  The  tyrant  may  clothe  his 
captive  in  chains,  and  lay  him  low  in  a  dungeon ; 
but  it  is  not  so  easy  a  task  to  bind  the  free  spirit. 
He  may  put  a  seal  upon  the  lips,  but  not  so  readily 
on  volition,  and  thought,  and  the  moral  sense.  The 
soul,  freer  than  air,  more  rapid  than  light,  regards 
no  chains,  and  is  limited  to  no  dungeons.  The 
thoughts  that  wander  through  eternity,  defy  all 


30 


bolts  and  bars,  and  an  awakened  conscience,  right 
or  wrong,  mocks  at  all  created  force.  There  are 
yet  men  upon  the  earth,  who  will  think  for  them¬ 
selves.  Their  souls  were  not  made  to  be  hampered 
with  fetters.  You  might  as  well  chain  the  Helles¬ 
pont  as  them.  You  may  forge  manacles,  and 
erect  prisons,  and  stand  at  the  portal  with  a  point¬ 
ed  bayonet ;  the  immortal  spirit  will  rise  in 
majesty,  and  inscribe  its  laws  upon  society  in 
the  more  enduring  characters.  You  may  evoke 
the  thunders  of  the  Vatican,  and  pass  sentence 
of  excommunication,  and  threaten  them  with  the 
vengeance  of  Heaven  in  the  world  to  come ; 
they  will  yet  utter  their  thoughts,  and  proclaim 
aloud  their  irrepressible  convictions.  Knowledge 
is  power.  Love  is  active.  Inspiration  cannot  but 
speak  the  things  it  has  seen  and  heard.  Science 
may  be  forced  upon  her  bended  knees  to  recant  her 
heresy  of  the  earth’s  rotation,  44  and  yet  it  moves,” 
will  come  forth  in  spite  of  all,  from  her  lips. 

“  The  Spirit  cannot  always  sleep  in  dust, 

Whose  essence  is  etherial ;  you  may  try  to  darken 
And  degrade  it ;  it  may  rust  dimly  awhile, 

But  cannot  wholly  die ;  and  when  it  wakens 
It  will  send  its  fire  intensely  forth,  and  higher.” 

When  the  “  bull  of  the  pope”  has  fallen  on  such 
a  mind,  or  the  “  edict  of  a  bishop  ”  oppressed  it, 
when  the  congregational  44  formulas  ”  have  been 
imposed,  or  the  44  presbyterian  book  of  discipline” 
held  it  down  too  closely,  when  the  baptist  44  articles 
of  faith,”  or  the  scruples  of  the  44  dear  brethren” 
have  abridged  it  of  its  liberty,  it  will  stir  under  its 


31 


burden  ;  it  will  break  down  or  leap  over  its  safe¬ 
guards,  and  scatter  all  human  restraints  as  quickly 
as  did  the  Judge  of  Israel  the  green  withs  that 
bound  him. 

Hence,  of  all  governments,  none  stand  on  so  pre¬ 
carious  a  footing  as  those  which  attempt  to  control 
religion.  They  are  as  vineyards  planted  on  the 
sides  of  Etna,  where  the  royal  husbandmen  gather 
their  clusters  of  revenue  and  luxury  amid  the  white 
ashes  of  a  recent  eruption,  or  while  feeling  beneath 
them  the  first  surgings  and  throes  of  some  new  and 
impending  evolution,  that  shall  bury  the  vine  and 
the  vine-dresser,  the  tax  and  the  tax-gatherer,  in  the 
same  lava  flood.  In  attempting  to  repress  and  stifle 
the  sacred  fires  which  Heaven  has  enkindled  in  the 
soul,  you  will  yourselves  be  consumed.  The  strong 
man  shall  be  as  tow,  and  his  work  as  a  spark ;  they 
shall  both  burn  together  and  none  shall  quench 
them. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  Is  Christianity  herself  safe 
in  the  hands  of  the  people  'l  Objections  are  urged 
against  the  “  voluntary  system,”  on  the  ground  that 
it  tends  to  infidelity  and  atheism.  Fears  have  been 
expressed  by  our  brethren  beyond  the  Atlantic  that 
such  would  be  our  fate ; — that  religion  would  ulti¬ 
mately  die  out,  for  want  of  legal  safeguards  and 
protection.  But  what  has  she  ever  gained  by  such 
protection'?  It  is  a  suspicious  circumstance  that 
her  avowed  and  bitter  enemies  have  strongly  advo¬ 
cated  her  union  with  the  state.  And  why  do  they 
wish  the  union'?  Rousseau  unintentionally  pays 


32 


Christianity  a  compliment,  by  assigning  his  reason. 
It  is  substantially  this: — As  she  came  from  the 
hands  of  Jesus  Christ,  she  is  annoying  to  the  na¬ 
tions  :  she  makes  assaults  upon  human  character  ; — 
she  accuses  men  of  sin,  and  threatens  the  guilty 
with  a  future  judgment ;  and  thus  creates  commo¬ 
tions  and  divisions  among  mankind.  “  Of  all 
Christian  authors,”  he  tells  us,  “  the  philosopher 
Hobbes  was  the  only  one  who  fully  saw  the  evil, 
and  dared  to  propose  a  union  of  the  two  heads  of 
the  Eagle,  and  thus  reduce  the  whole  to  political 
harmony.”  The  evil,  according  to  him,  was  in  the 
spiritual  nature  and  aggressive  power  of  the  gospel. 
And  the  remedy  was  to  be  found  in  putting  religion 
under  the  guardianship  of  human  government. 
And  an  effectual  remedy  it  has  ever  proved !  It 
takes  out  of  Christianity  her  life  and  soul,  and 
leaves  her  as  weak  and  inoffensive  as  her  bitterest 
enemies  could  desire:  and  that,  too,  without  im¬ 
parting  any  additional  strength  to  the  secular  pow¬ 
ers.  It  is  a  union  which 

“  Not  enriches  them, 

But  makes  her  poor  indeed.” 

The  truth  is,  that  not  only  is  the  state  the 
stronger,  but  Christianity  is  the  purer  and  the 
more  powerful,  when  they  are  suffered  to  operate 
apart.  It  is  better  for  both  eagles,  if  I  may 
borrow  the  figure,  not  to  unite  them  in  a  common 
head,  but  to  give  them  a  separate  and  distinct 
existence,  and  open  to  their  flight  the  whole 
expanse  of  the  horizon.  The  bird  of  paradise 


33 


can  sustain  herself  upon  her  own  unaided  wing. 
She  did  so  in  the  first  age  of  the  Christian  era. 
The  strong  arm  of  government  was  indeed  stretched 
out ; — not,  however,  to  shield  the  interests  of 
the  new  religion,  but  to  crush  them ;  for  this 
purpose  Christ  was  crucified,  and  his  disciples 
driven  from  city  to  city,  and  hunted  through 
synagogue  and  dungeon  and  amphitheatre,  into  a 
bloody  and  dishonored  grave.  But  was  Christianity 
thereby  extinguished]  No:  she  gathered  fresh 
energies  in  the  sepulchre,  and  arose  with  her  au¬ 
thor,  to  claim  the  skies  and  rule  the  subjacent 
earth.  From  amid  perils,  imprisonments  and 
deaths,  she  went  forth  in  the  greatness  of  her 
strength,  to  the  conquest  of  the  world.  But  no 
sooner  did  she  consent  to  lean  upon  human  aid 
and  power,  and  to  creep  for.  patronage  and  protec¬ 
tion  under  earthly  corselets  and  coronets,  than  she 
ceased  to  wield  the  energies  of  Heaven.  When  she 
placed  upon  her  brow  the  diadem  of  the  Caesars, 
she  seemed  to  have  acquired  additional  vigor ;  there 
was  an  apparent  glow  of  health  upon  her  coun¬ 
tenance  ;  but  it  was  only  the  unnatural  bloom  upon 
the  cheek  of  consumption,  a  bright  hectic  flush, 
indicating  only  weakness  and  decline.  The  impe¬ 
rial  sword,  raised  in  her  defence,  pierced  her  to  the 
heart.  Seated  in  the  chair  of  state,  arrayed  in 
royal  robes,  and  crowned  with  fading  laurel,  she 
began  herself  to  fade.  Rocked  to  sleep  in  the 
cradle  of  popular  favor,  she  slumbered  for  ages,  and 
if  left  solely  to  the  care  of  kings  and  queens,  would 
have  slept  the  sleep  of  death.  Were  these  high 
5 


34 


functionaries  humbly  and  gratefully  to  regard  her 
claims,  they  might  indeed  fulfil  the  beautiful  lan¬ 
guage  of  the  prophet,  and  become  her  nursing 
fathers  and  her  nursing  mothers ;  but  when  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  decoyed  from  her  own  lofty  position,  to 
nestle  in  the  arms  of  authority,  and  draw  nourish¬ 
ment  from  the  breast  of  pride  and  ambition,  the 
deadly  poppy  and  the  fatal  nightshade  are  distilled 
into  the  milk  on  which  she  feeds,  and  with  all  the 
gorgeousness  and  splendor  of  her  outward  adorn¬ 
ing,  is  but  a  sickly  child, 

“  Sad  to  view, 

Its  visage  pale  and  wan.” 

If  we  may  rely  upon  a  distinguished  geologist,  in 
his  “  first  impressions”  of  England,  a  national  re¬ 
ligion,  even  at  its  best  estate,  is  altogether  vanity. 
In  the  technical  language  of  his  profession, — “  It  is 
no  longer  a  living  devotion,  but  a  petrifaction,  a 
fossil,  existing,  it  is  true,  in  a  fine  state  of  keeping, 
but  still  an  exanimate  stone.”  Everywhere  and  in 
all  circumstances,  religion,  owing  to  the  evil  tenden¬ 
cies  of  human  nature,  is  liable  to  degenerate  into 
mere  form ;  but  where  the  church  is  allied  with  the 
state  ;  where  a  religious  profession  is  a  passport  to 
worldly  preferment ;  where  a  16  living”  is  secured  to 
the  officiating  clergyman,  independent  of  the  volun¬ 
tary  contributions  of  his  hearers ;  and  where  no 
farther  attentions  to  the  flock  are  expected,  than 
what  are  requisite  to  prevent  their  going  in  quest  of 
strange  pastures,  a  strong  temptation  is  presented  to 
ambition,  to  avarice,  to  sloth  and  spiritual  fraud. 
And  it  will  generally  be  found,  that  the  system 


35 


which  provides  a  “living”  for  the  shepherd,  be¬ 
queaths  a  dying  to  his  flock.  Human  nature  must 
be  entirely  changed,  if,  in  such  circumstances,  hy¬ 
pocrisy  do  not  enter  the  sanctuary  of  the  living 
God,  and  lay  impious  hands  upon  the  horns  of 
the  altar.* 

Christianity,  so  far  from  dying  out  amid  our  free 
institutions,  has  found  here  a  field  specially  prepared 
of  God,  for  her  most  signal  and  brilliant  tri¬ 
umphs.  Had  America  been  discovered  before  the 
reformation,  before  the  printing  of  the  Bible,  and 
before  those  struggles  for  liberty  which  had  earlier 
began  to  agitate  the  public  mind,  how  different  from 
what  they  now  are  would  have  been  the  character 
and  prospective  destiny  of  these  United  States.  But 
God  kept  this  great  continent  concealed  from  Euro¬ 
pean  adventurers,  until  a  people  were  prepared  to 
occupy  it.  An  un  traversed  ocean  rolled  between  it 
and  them,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the 
deep.  No  navigator  was  allowed  to  land  upon  these 
shores,  until  the  sun  of  the  Christian  era  had  reached 
an  elevated  point  in  the  eastern  horizon,  and 
broken  through  the  mists  and  darkness  which  had 

*  When  the  English  Puritans,  in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  became  su¬ 
preme  in  the  state,  they  passed  a  resolution  in  Parliament,  prompted, 
doubtless,  by  motives  of  piety,  that  no  person  should  be  admitted  into 
the  public  service,  until  the  house  were  satisfied  of  his  real  godliness. 
The  result  was  as  might  have  been  expected ;  men  who  cared  for  no 
religion,  rushed  into  the  church,  and  those  good  people,  who,  when  pro¬ 
scribed  and  persecuted,  had  obtained  a  deservedly  high  reputation  for 
sanctity,  now  found  themselves  mixed  up  with,  and  jostled  and  overpow¬ 
ered  by,  a  motley  multitude  of  traffickers,  money-changers  and  office- 
seekers,  whom  Christ  would  have  driven  from  his  temple,  with  a  whip 
of  small  cords. 


36 


gathered  around  it  in  its  ascension,  so  that  when 
this  new  earth  arose  from  chaos,  it  was  greeted  at 
once  by  great  lights  which  God  had  placed  in  the 
firmament,  and  whose  genial  rays,  we  trust,  will 
continue  to  shine  upon  our  hills  and  valleys  with 
undiminished  purity  and  brightness,  to  the  end  of 
time. 

The  manner  in  which  emigration  from  other 
lands  has  been  at  one  time  retarded,  and  at  another 
hastened,  evinces  the  same  all-wise  and  beneficent 
regard  to  the  character  which  this  nation  should 
ultimately  form.  “  What  hath  God  wrought,”  was 
the  first  message  sent  by  the  telegraph,  as  if  from 
Heaven  itself  to  this  people.  “  I  the  Lord  have  given 
you  wealth  and  power,  mountains  of  iron  and  valleys 
of  gold,  a  boundless  territory  and  a  free  government ; 
I  have  kept  back  the  hordes  of  Europe  until  you 
could  consolidate  the  foundations  of  your  free  insti¬ 
tutions,  and  prepare  your  magazines  of  light  for  these 
ignorant  millions  ;  I  have  added  the  ocean  steamer, 
the  railway,  the  steam  printing  press,  and  the  tele¬ 
graph,  as  ye  have  been  able  to  bear  the  stress  and 
the  storm  of  their  influence.  Employ,  then,  all 
these  for  my  glory  and  the  establishment  of  my 
kingdom.” 

The  sceptic  may  say,  all  this  has  so  happened, 
and  attribute  it  only  to  blind  chance ;  but  thought¬ 
ful  minds  cannot  avoid  looking  beyond  these  inter¬ 
mediate  agencies  to  a  higher  source.  Above  the 
wheels  and  pulleys  and  crossbeams  of  second  causes, 
and  within  the  reservoir  of  human  industry  and 
mortal  skill,  they  recognize,  as  the  controlling  force 
of  the  complicated  machinery,  the  presence  of  Him 


37 


who  is  wonderful  in  counsel  and  mighty  in  work¬ 
ing  ;  and  gratefully  exclaim, — This  is  the  Lord ! 
We  have  waited  for  him ; — This  is  our  God !  We 
will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  his  salvation. 

One  reason  why  Palestine  was  chosen  of  God  to 
be  the  great  theatre  of  human  redemption,  where 
the  ministry  of  prophets  and  apostles,  and  of  Christ 
himself,  should  be  exercised,  was  its  central  posi¬ 
tion.  Whatever  was  there  said  and  done,  was  pro¬ 
claimed  as  upon  the  housetops,  and  the  sound 
thereof  went  out  to  every  land.  Ships  were  pass¬ 
ing  and  repassing  from  its  coast,  to  all  the  promi¬ 
nent  places  on  the  Mediterranean.  Caravans,  richly 
laden,  were  often  seen  wending  their  way  from 
Egypt  to  Persia,  and  still  farther  to  the  East,  where 
lay  the  wealth  and  splendor  of  India.  Thus  when, 
in  the  fulness  of  time,  Christianity  arose,  the  way 
was  prepared  for  the  widest  diffusion  of  her  light. 
A  similar  position  is  occupied  by  the  United  States, 
not  only  in  reference  to  the  western  continent,  but 
to  the  population  of  the  world.  The  great  body  of 
the  people  of  Asia  are  collected  in  masses  on  her 
eastern  coast,  upon  the  shores  of  the  Pacific ;  and 
that  of  Europe  on  her  western,  along  the  borders  of 
the  Atlantic.  America,  extending  as  she  now  does 
to  both  oceans,  is  in  the  near  proximity  of  them  all. 
She  can  stretch  out  her  arms  and  make  her  influ¬ 
ence  felt  over  the  entire  globe.  And  is  this  high 
position  assigned  her,  think  you,  simply  that  she 
may  become  a  great  and  wealthy  people  ; — the  com¬ 
mercial  emporium  of  the  world  I  Is  she  to  hold  out 
in  her  full  hands  only  patent  steam-reapers,  the  cu¬ 
riously  made  lock,  or  the  deadly  revolver  \  Is  her 


38 


commerce  only  to  add  to  an  already  overflowing 
treasury  'l  Is  she  to  use  God’s  ocean  only  as  a  road 
for  the  transportation  of  cotton  and  tobacco  and 
New  England  ruml  No.  The  great  sea  where  go 
the  ships,  was  not  made  to  be  a  mere  theatre  of 
worldly  enterprise,  but  to  subserve  the  higher  pur¬ 
poses  of  benevolence  and  love.  Its  winds  and 
waves  are  to  waft,  to  every  shore,  the  truths  and 
principles,  the  hopes  and  the  joys  of  Christianity. 
It  is  a  highway  of  emerald  and  sapphire  for  the 
footsteps  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  Christ  is  yet,  as  in 
the  days  of  his  flesh,  to  walk  triumphantly  upon 
the  waters,  and  display  his  wonders  in  the  deep. 
The  multiplied  facilities  which  are  now  enjoyed  for 
traversing  sea  and  land ;  the  roads  of  iron  w  hich 
bind  together  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  conti¬ 
nent  ; — the  rivers,  grooved  by  the  finger  of  God  ; — 
the  oceans  poured  from  the  hollow  of  his  hand  ; — 
the  ships  which  plough  their  w7ay  through  the  storm¬ 
iest  sea  and  in  the  darkest  night ;  the  wires,  full 
of  vitality  and  clinking  w7ith  thought,  that  are 
spreading  their  electric  network  in  every  direction, 
are  the  great  arteries,  and  nerves,  and  life-blood  of 
human  sympathy,  designed  not  merely  to  facilitate 
the  intercourse  of  nations,  and  bring  the  whole 
human  family  into  a  loving  brotherhood,  but  to  re¬ 
animate  the  world  with  a  new  life,  to  unite  the 
earth  with  Heaven,  and  to  recover  man  to  the  love 
and  service  and  companionship  of  his  Creator. 

But  to  say  nothing  of  the  influence  which  may 
be  sent  abroad,  this  country  is  the  chosen  asylum  of 
all  nations.  If  Japheth  has  fulfilled  the  prediction, 
uttered  while  the  earth  was  yet  moist  and  reeking 


39 


from  the  deluge:  If  he  has  hitherto  occupied  the 
tents  of  Shem ;  he  is  here  requiting  his  brother  for 
the  usurpation  and  encroachment,  by  inviting  all 
the  tribes  of  Japheth’s  gray  stock,  and  smuggling 
Ham,  and  luring  Shem,  by  the  advantages  of  art, 
science  and  traffic,  to  be  the  occupants  of  his  own 
broad  tent.  We  may  suffer  somewhat,  temporarily, 
from  this  influx  of  foreigners ;  but  I  have  no  sym¬ 
pathy  with  the  oft-repeated  cry,  that  the  sun  of  our 
liberty,  civil  or  religious,  will  thus  fall  from  the 
heavens,  and  the  night  of  the  middle  ages  spread  its 
clouds  of  darkness  and  gloom  over  these  fair  fields.* 
The  shadow  on  the  great  dial  of  human  destiny 
moves  not  backward.  Vassalage  and  serfdom  shall 
never  return.  There  is  too  wide  a  diffusion  of  the 
morning  light,  for  bat-eyed  superstition  to  resume 
her  reign  :  and  the  light  which  is  here  shedding 
forth  its  beams,  is  that  of  the  morning,  not  of  the 
close  of  day. 

America  is  called  upon,  by  the  providence  of 
God,  to  put  forth  the  impulses  of  a  generous 
humanity.  Her’s  is  no  ordinary  mission.  The 

*  Japheth,  though  he  may  not,  in  all  cases,  find  angels  in  the  stran¬ 
gers  he  entertains,  will  be  ultimately  a  gainer  by  his  hospitality.  Those 
nations  which  now  exert  the  widest  influence,  are  all  the  product  of 
mixed  races ;  while  those  that  lie  dormant  and  altogether  unfelt  in  the 
world,  are  such  as  have  kept  their  blood  and  their  thoughts  untainted 
with  foreign  admixture.  It  required  the  original  Briton,  the  Saxon  and 
the  Norman,  to  make  the  modern  Englishman.  In  the  American  char¬ 
acter,  there  is  coming  to  be  not  only  a  union  of  these,  but  a  still  far¬ 
ther  infusion  of  varied  elements  from  all  nations.  Let  these  materials 
be  moulded  and  controlled  by  Christianity,  and  there  will  spring  up  a 
race  infinitely  superior  in  individual  prowess  and  length  of  life,  to  those 
who  trod  the  earth  with  giant  steps  in  the  first  age ;  men  of  high  moral 
stature,  and  who,  in  good  words,  and  noble  thoughts,  and  worthy  deeds, 
shall  survive  a  thousand  years. 


40 


Indian  and  the  African  have  yet  unfulfilled  claims 
upon  her  justice.  The  down-trodden  of  her  own 
land,  and  the  captives  now  crowded  in  Austrian 
prisons,  are  crying  to  her  for  relief.  She  cannot  be 
heedless  of  these  appeals.  She  would  be  unfaithful 
to  her  character  and  past  history,  if  indifferent  to 
oppression  and  suffering  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
When  the  inhabitants  of  the  Emerald  Isle  were  vis¬ 
ited  with  famine,  the  warm  heart  of  America  beat 
generously  in  their  behalf.  Like  the  High  Priest 
of  Israel,  she  went  as  with  a  golden  censer,  and  stood 
between  the  living  and  the  dead,  until  the  plague 
was  stayed. 

And  when  the  nation  of  classic  memory  and 
fame  was  contending  against  fearful  odds  for  its 
liberty  and  life,  there  was  here,  as  there  ever  will 
be  with  a  free  and  Christian  people,  a  general,  irre¬ 
pressible  and  spontaneous  outburst  of  sympathy. 
Rich  men  poured  forth  their  treasures.  Poetry 
sung  the  praises  of  liberty.  Religion  offered  prayer 
to  God.  And  a  lofty  eloquence  rang  through  our 
halls  of  legislation.  So  it  should  ever  be.  It  is  a 
memorial  in  man,  of  his  celestial  origin  and  attain¬ 
able  destiny.  There  is  a  nobleness  of  soul,  a  gran¬ 
deur  of  sentiment,  a  disinterestedness  of  heart, 
which  soars  as  far  above  all  consideration  of  self,  as 
the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth.  Its  impulses 
and  throbbings  are  felt  across  oceans  and  continents, 
and  they  are  not  only  the  occasion  of  the  sweetest 
emotions  that  ever  arise  in  the  human  bosom,  but 
the  mightiest  power  for  good  a  nation  can  wield : — 
more  effective  by  far,  in  aid  of  crushed  and  bleed¬ 
ing  humanity,  than  if  accompanied  by  a  forest  of 


41 


bristling  bayonets.  Christian  compassion  itself, 
more  potent  than  an  armed  force,  is  only  weakened 
by  threats  of  violence  and  declarations  of  war.  The 
time,  I  believe,  has  come,  at  least  in  the  history  of 
this  country,  when  the  voice  of  wisdom,  experience 
and  love  shall  avail  more  for  the  deliverance  of  the 
oppressed,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  free,  than  the 
heaviest  ordnance  of  the  battle-field; — when  the 
expression  of  truthful  ideas,  the  manly  utterance  of 
honest  convictions,  founded  on  the  eternal  princi¬ 
ples  of  justice  and  of  right, — the  sending  forth  of 
the  Bible  and  the  missionary  of  the  cross,  shall 
cause  greater  joy  to  the  nations,  and  be  more  start¬ 
ling  even  to  the  despots  of  the  world,  than  if  con¬ 
fronted  by  the  roar  of  artillery  and  the  blast  of 
trumpets.  This  is  the  honor ;  this  the  sceptre  of 
power  conferred  upon  us  by  the  God  of  Heaven. 
Let  us  employ  it,  not  only  in  behalf  of  nations 
struggling  for  freedom  ; — but,  what  is  a  higher  glory 
still,  for  the  moral  regeneration  of  mankind.  May 
we  never  part  with  our  birthright.  Let  not  the 
Shield  of  the  Mighty  be  vilely  cast  away.* 

Permit  me  now  to  tender  to  His  Excellency  the 
usual  congratulations.  In  addition  to  the  respect 
accorded  you  as  a  man,  by  all  parties  and  denomi¬ 
nations,  we  honor  you  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
this  Commonwealth :  a  state  which,  though  of  lim¬ 
ited  geographical  dimensions,  justly  ranks  with  the 
highest  in  the  land,  for  the  intelligence  and  enter¬ 
prise,  the  enlarged  patriotism  and  moral  worth,  of 
her  citizens.  We  honor  the  stand  you  have  taken 


6 


#  See  Appendix. 


42 


in  the  cause  of  popular  education,  and  your  sen¬ 
timents  of  devotion  to  the  Union.  The  labors  and 
responsibilities  of  the  office  you  sustain,  are  doubtless 
onerous  and  trying  ;  especially  in  times  of  high  po¬ 
litical  excitement,  and  among  a  people  exercising 
an  uncommon  liberty  of  conscience,  and,  not  unfre- 
quently,  a  vexatious  freedom  of  speech. 

But,  sir,  it  is  by  these  things  men  live,  and  a 
prophet  of  old  has  declared,  that  “  it  is  good  for  a 
man  to  bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth.”  However,  that 
I  be  not  further  tedious,  I  will  conclude  my  re¬ 
marks  to  your  Excellency,  somewhat  in  the  lan¬ 
guage,  though  I  trust  not  in  the  spirit,  of  the  Bo- 
man  orator: — “  While  by  thee  we  enjoy  quietness, 
and  while  worthy  deeds  are  done  unto  this  people 
by  thy  providence,  we  shall  accept  it  always,  in  all 
places,  with  all  thankfulness.” 

In  behalf  of  His  Honor  the  Lieutenant  Gov¬ 
ernor,  and  the  members  of  the  Executive  Council, 
we  would  invoke  not  only  the  spirit  of  tenderness, 
but  that  of  sound  wisdom  and  firm  integrity.  This 
is  indispensable  to  a  faithful  discharge  of  the  re¬ 
sponsible  and  often  painful  duties  of  your  office.  In 
the  administration  of  public  justice,  with  the  dis¬ 
cretionary  exercise  of  the  pardoning  power,  the 
character  of  the  individual  has  to  be  merged  in  that 
of  the  magistrate,  who,  while  he  sympathizes  with 
the  sufferer  and  with  the  guilty,  is  bound  to  sustain 
the  majesty  of  the  law.  He  cannot  yield  to  the 
clamors  of  the  socialist,  nor  to  the  pleadings  of 
affection  and  friendship,  nor  yet  to  the  yearnings  of 
his  own  heart-felt  compassion,  without  being  crimi- 


43 


nally  recreant  to  the  solemn  obligations  which 
Heaven  has  imposed.  While  faithful  to  your  high 
trust,  gentlemen,  you  will  receive,  as  you  will  deserve, 
the  respect  and  support  of  an  enlightened  community. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate , 

and  of  the  House  of  Representatives : 

We  welcome  you  to  the  posts  of  honor  and  of 
toil  to  which  you  have  been  elevated  by  the  free 
and  voluntary  suffrages  of  your  fellow-citizens.  It 
is  an  interesting  feature  in  our  institutions,  illus¬ 
trated  by  the  assembly  before  me*  that  men  from  all 
the  different  professions  in  life,  and  entertaining 
various  religious  opinions,  are  alike  eligible  to 
the  halls  of  legislation,  and  may  take  an  equal 
part  in  the  deliberative  councils  of  the  Common¬ 
wealth.  May  the  session,  upon  which  you  are 
now  entering,  be  distinguished  for  efficiency  and 
harmonious  action.  It  is  due  to  the  character  of 
the  people  you  represent,  and  to  the  history  and 
reputation  of  Massachusetts,  that  her  Legislature 
should  ever  be  composed  of  high-minded  and  honor¬ 
able  men,  who  know  how  to  utter  their  honest  con¬ 
victions  with  wisdom  and  firmness,  and  yet  with 
candor  and  courtesy. 

And,  gentlemen,  while  engaged  in  conducting 
the  affairs  of  human  government,  may  you  remem¬ 
ber  that  you  are  yourselves  under  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  God,  and  amenable  at  his  solemn  tribunal. 

And  now,  to  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible, 
the  only  wise  God  our  Saviour,  be  honor  and  glory, 
dominion  and  power  forever  !  Amen. 


APPENDIX 


The  mission  of  M.  Kossuth,  now  in  this  country,  and 
his  doctrine  respecting  American  intervention  in  the  af¬ 
fairs  of  Hungary,  are  producing  no  little  excitement  in  the 
public  mind.  That  there  should  be  a  deep  and  wide¬ 
spread  sympathy  with  the  people  in  whose  behalf  he  so 
earnestly  pleads,  is  perfectly  natural  and  Christian-like. 
The  patriotic  and  eloquent  appeals  of  the  illustrious  ex¬ 
ile,  the  pictures  which  he  so  graphically  and  truthfully 
draws,  of  the  unfortunate  yet  heroic  Magyars,  struggling 
for  freedom,  for  religious  freedom,  nay,  for  their  very  ex¬ 
istence,  we  know,  from  our  own  feelings,  must  reach  and 
stir  the  inmost  depths  of  the  soul.  “  Here  I  stand  before 
you,”  he  says,  “  to  plead  the  cause  of  these,  your  less 
fortunate  brethren  ;  the  cause  of  humanity  • — I  may  suc¬ 
ceed,  or  I  may  fail ;  but  I  will  go  on  pleading  with  that 
faith  of  martyrs,  by  which  mountains  are  moved  ;  and  I 
may  displease  you,  perhaps  ;  still  I  will  say  with  Luther — 
May  God  help  me ,  I  can  do  no  otherwise .”  Noble  mind¬ 
ed  man  !  His  appeals  will  not  be  in  vain.  Thousands  of 
hearts  in  this  free  republic,  and  in  other  lands,  will  beat 
warmly  and  effectively  for  his  oppressed  nation.  The 
favor  of  Heaven  will  be  invoked  and  enlisted  in  their 
behalf.  When  we  think  of  the  treachery  and  butchery 
which  this  people  have  suffered  from  the  Georgeys  and 
Haynaus  of  Austrian  despotism,  the  imprisonments  and 
scourgings  inflicted  upon  innocent  men  and  defenceless 
women,  we  feel  that  if  the  cause  of  Hungary  is  not  suffi¬ 
cient  to  enlist  the  sympathy  and  support  of  good  men, 
“then,”  to  use  the  burning  words  of  its  mightiest  cham¬ 
pion,  “  is  there  no  just  cause  and  no  justice  on  earth.  The 
blood  of  no  new  Abel  will  move  toward  Heaven.  The 


45 


genius  of  charity  and  Christian  love  will  mournfully  fly 
the  earth  :  a  heavy  curse  will  fall  upon  morality  ;  oppressed 
men  will  despair,  and  only  the  Cains  of  humanity  walk 
proudly,  with  impious  brow,  about  the  ruins  of  liberty  on 
earth  !  ”  But  the  favor  of  God  and  of  Christian  men  is 
shown  by  the  assertion  of  correct  principles,  by  the  force 
and  pressure  of  moral  sentiment,  by  the  keen  weapons  of 
truth,  and  the  piercing  light  of  intelligence  and  love.  We 
have  seen,  with  emotions  of  satisfaction  and  gratitude  to 
God,  the  expressions  of  sympathy  and  good  will,  which, 
from  multitudes  in  the  different  Christian  nations,  have 
followed  the  steps  of  the  Hungarian  chieftain  to  his 
Turkish  exile.  We  feel  a  just  pride  that,  by  the  inter¬ 
position  of  an  American  President  and  an  American 
Congress,  our  own  flag  of  protection  and  freedom  floated 
over  him,  on  the  distant  waters  of  the  Bosphorus.  We 
admired  the  more  than  Roman  triumph  which  he  achieved 
during  his  short  visit  to  England.  “  He  landed  on  the 
southern  coast,  not  far  from  where  William  of  Normandy, 
nearly  eight  centuries  before,  had  landed ;  not  far  from 
where,  nineteen  centuries  ago,  Julius  Caesar  had  landed 
also  ;  but  William  on  the  field  of  Hastings,  and  Caesar  in 
his  adventurous  expedition,  made  no  conquest  comparable 
in  grandeur  to  that  achieved  by  the  unarmed  and  unat¬ 
tended  Hungarian.”  A  similar  demonstration  of  popular 
enthusiasm  greeted  his  arrival  on  our  shores.  He  is  the 
nation’s  guest.  His  mission  is  successful.  He  need  ask 
no  more.  The  country  has  espoused  his  cause,  and  with¬ 
out  engaging  in  a  belligerent  enterprise,  will  send  him 
forth  to  his  father-land,  armed  with  the  most  efficient 
weapons  of  success  which  the  nation  can  proffer.  We 
would  say  to  our  guest,  in  the  language  of  our  esteemed 
Senator  in  Congress,* — “  Be  content  with  the  outgushing 
sympathy  which  you  now  so  marvellously  inspire  every- 


#  Hon.  Charles  Sumner. 


46 


where  throughout  this  wide-spread  land,  and  may  it 
strengthen  your  soul !  Trust  in  God,  in  the  inspiration 
of  your  cause,  and  in  the  great  future,  pregnant  with  free¬ 
dom  for  all  mankind.  But  respect  our  ideas,  as  we  re¬ 
spect  yours.  Do  not  seek  to  reverse  our  traditional, 
established  policy  of  peace.  Do  not,  under  the  too  plau¬ 
sible  sophism  of  upholding  non-intervention ,  provoke 
American  intervention  on  distant  European  soil.  Leave 
us  to  tread  where  Washington  points  the  way.”  This  is 
the  spirit,  and  this  the  doctrine,  which  meets  our  most 
hearty  approval,  and  will,  we  doubt  not,  be  responded  to 
by  the  great  body  of  the  American  people.  We  have 
been  taught  from  our  infancy,  as  a  nation,  to  venerate  the 
character  of  Washington,  and  we  are  now  reaping  the 
rich  fruit  of  his  instruction.  It  is  well  for  us  that  love 
for  him  and  his  recorded  sentiments  has  grown  with  our 
growth  and  strengthened  with  our  strength.  He  was 
obviously  raised  up  of  God  to  be  the  father  of  his  country, 
and  was  led,  in  his  farewell  address,  to  speak  to  us  as  with 
the  voice  of  inspiration.  His  counsel  to  “  observe  good 
faith  and  justice  toward  all  nations,”  and  yet  to  “  steer 
clear  of  entangling  alliances  with  any  and  every  portion 
of  the  foreign  world,”  is  not  only  adapted  to  the  prosperity 
of  our  republic,  but  commends  itself  still  more  for  its  per¬ 
fect  harmony  with  the  principles  and  spirit  of  our  holy  re¬ 
ligion.  Christianity  will  not  indeed  ask  with  a  cold, 
unfeeling,  Cain-like  selfishness, — Am  I  my  brother’s  keep¬ 
er?  She  recognizes  a  brother  in  every  human  being, 
and  regards  every  act  of  kindness  to  the  stranger,  the 
sufferer  and  the  oppressed,  as  done  to  the  Lord  himself. 
But  she  wields  a  mightier  power  than  that  of  the  sword. 
The  weapons  of  her  warfare  are  not  carnal.  The  greaves 
of  the  armed  warrior  and  garments  rolled  in  blood,  con¬ 
stitute  no  part  of  her  appropriate  costume.  She  goes  forth 
to  the  achievement  of  her  victories  in  majestic  simplicity, 
with  the  accents  of  truth  upon  her  lips,  and  the  love  of 


47 


God  and  the  love  of  man,  warm  and  glowing  in  her  heart, 
and  is  thus  destined,  in  her  onward  progress,  to  usher  in 
the  bright  and  joyous  day  of  universal  freedom  to  the 
nations. 

By  the  good  providence  of  God,  America  is  placed  at  a 
happy  distance  from  the  belligerent  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  volcanoes  of  war  may  surge  and  burst  on  the  eastern 
continent,  but  scarcely  a  cinder  can  reach  our  shores.  We 
should  neither  honor  God,  nor  do  good  to  our  fellow  men, 
by  seeking  out  the  yawning  crater,  or  plunging  into  the 
boiling  lava.  Heaven,  whose  guardian  angels  have  watched 
over  us  from  the  first,  has,  we  trust,  designed  us  for  a 
destiny  more  worthy  of  immortal  beings.  Our  continued 
existence  as  a  free  republic,  the  thrift  and  enterprise  of 
our  citizens,  the  comforts  of  social  and  domestic  life 
which  everywhere  prevail,  the  safety  with  which  more  than 
half  the  population  go  to  bed  at  night  with  unbolted  doors, 
our  cities  springing  up  as  by  magic  on  seaboard  and  in¬ 
land,  smiling  villages  peering  out  from  every  valley  and 
upon  every  hill-top,  groups  of  happy  children  on  their  way 
to  school,  the  hallowed  influences  of  the  Sabbath  and  the 
sanctuary,  and  the  enterprises  of  benevolence  and  piety 
which  are  here  in  successful  operation  for  diffusing  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  throughout  the  world, — 
are  enabling  us  to  fulfil  our  highest  mission  as  a  nation, 
and  to  discharge  most  effectively  our  fraternal  obligations 
to  the  family  of  man.  We  are  in  a  goodly  ship.  The 
interests  of  humanity  in  every  land,  and  for  centuries  to 
come,  will  depend  very  much  upon  our  safety  and  contin¬ 
ued  prosperity.  If,  in  the  tempest  of  nations,  some  are 
cast  adrift,  and  are  found  on  the  wide  waters,  floating  on 
planks,  or  clinging  to  the  vessel’s  sides,  we  are  prepared  to 
take  them  aboard.  But  whether  we  shall  hazard  ship  and 
cargo,  and  all  the  great  purposes  for  which  the  voyage 
was  undertaken,  for  the  sake  of  deciding  a  battle  on  the 
high  seas,  is  a  question  which  our  experienced  pilot  at 


48 


the  helm,  the  far-seeing  Secretary  of  State,  will  take 
time  to  think  of: — “  Yes,  he  will  think  of  that.” 

Our  nation,  in  its  maturity  and  strength,  has  doubt¬ 
less  duties  devolving  upon  it,  far  greater  than  were 
demanded  in  its  weakness  and  infancy.  When  the 
foundations  of  the  republic  were  laid,  we  were  as  a 
child  in  the  cradle.  The  large  dress  of  our  unoccupied 
territories  hung  loose  about  our  puerile  limbs.  We  have 
now  grown  up  to  manhood.  We  have  left  the  nursery, 
and  must  henceforth  take  our  stand  among  the  “  Powers  ” 
of  the  earth.  Nor  would  we  shrink  from  any  responsi¬ 
bilities  belonging  to  our  new  position.  A  nation,  no 
more  than  an  individual,  should  live  to  itself.  No  intelli¬ 
gent  and  well-disposed  citizen  of  the  United  States  would 
wish  to  see  his  country  degraded  to  the  u  rotting  vegeta¬ 
tion  of  a  Paraguay,  or  to  the  mummy  existence  of  a 
Japan  or  a  China.”  Progress  is  her  duty  and  her  privi¬ 
lege.  Let  the  nation  pursue  the  bright  pathway  marked 
out  for  her,  by  the  God  of  nature,  of  providence  and 
grace,  and  there  is  no  limit  to  her  improvement.  Our 
“  ancestral  tree  ”  will  spread  out  its  giant  branches  aloft 
and  afar,  while  multitudes  are  reposing  under  its  shadow, 
and  partaking  of  its  fruits.  Let  us  religiously  correct  our 
faults  ;  let  us  free  ourselves  from  the  just  charge  of  inhu¬ 
manity  and  oppression ;  let  the  republic  continue  to  de¬ 
velop  its  natural  resources  j  let  mental  and  moral  culture 
shed  its  healthful  influence  around  our  youth ;  let  the 
word  of  the  Lord  sound  out  from  our  pulpits,  and  the 
light  of  a  pure  Christianity  be  reflected  over  the  nations, 
and  no  higher  object  of  ambition, — no  brighter  prospect 
of  true  greatness  and  glory, — can  be  presented  before  us 
in  the  present  world. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  —  URBAN  A 


N301 12001263612A 


